Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

All of us here at Monmouth stand together with the communities of Buffalo, Laguna Woods, and now Uvalde. While the circumstances that influenced each of these unprovoked acts of violence were different, each resulted in the senseless loss of innocent life.

In times like these, I am particularly grateful for our colleagues in the Monmouth University Police Department who spend their days in service to the protection of our community. I am thankful to our colleagues in Counseling & Psychological Services who provide invaluable mental health support to our community throughout the year and especially at times of discord and disarray. And I am likewise thankful to all of you who support one another, every day.

As we process these recent events, please remember that there are many services available to you on and off campus. The University has resources available through Counseling and Psychological Services and the Office of Human Resources to support our community.

Please join me in hoping for peace throughout our nation as we grieve the loss of innocent life at this difficult time.

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

We are eagerly looking forward to celebrating our 2022 spring commencement ceremonies next week. We will again be honoring our undergraduate and graduate/doctoral students with distinct events, and launching a new tradition with an all-undergraduate class gathering held the day before degree conferral. This new event will provide a special opportunity for the nearly 900 undergraduates in the Class of 2022 to celebrate their collective achievements in the company of their closest friends and classmates on our beautiful campus.  All ceremonies will be held at Kessler Stadium and the rain site is the OceanFirst Bank Center.

The graduate and doctoral commencement ceremony is on Wednesday, May 11, 2022, at 10 a.m. 

Our all-undergraduate class gathering is scheduled for Wednesday, May 11, 2022, at 4 p.m. 

Jack Ford, Emmy and Peabody Award-winning host of Metro Focus on PBS and CBS News Correspondent for 60 Minutes Sports, will deliver a commencement address at both ceremonies, and will receive an honorary degree at the all-undergraduate class gathering.

Three additional, school specific, degree conferral ceremonies will occur on Thursday, May 12.  The ceremony for graduates of the Leon Hess Business School will occur at 10 a.m., the ceremony for graduates of the Wayne D. McMurray School of Humanities and Social Sciences at 1 p.m., and the ceremony for graduates of the Marjorie K. Unterberg School of Nursing and Health Studies, School of Social Work, School of Education, and School of Science is planned for 4 p.m.  For additional details, including links to livestreaming of each ceremony, visit monmouth.edu/commencement.

If you have any questions about our commencement exercises, please do not hesitate to contact Vice President Mary Anne Nagy, the chair of the Commencement Planning Committee, at extension 3417.

I hope you share my excitement at hearing our special guest and honoring our graduates in the days ahead. It gives me great delight to host these in-person events on our beautiful campus, which has served as a second home to our graduates for the past several years. Please keep our graduates and their families in your thoughts as we prepare for this year’s commencement exercises.

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy
President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

As we near the end of the spring semester and prepare for summer classes, I write with updates on our campus health and safety protocols, which go into effect on Monday, May 16, the first day of our five summer sessions.

Masking

Given the recent decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations in New Jersey and the decreasing number of COVID-19 cases on campus, and due to the high vaccination rate among our campus community, the University will be moving to a campus-wide mask optional policy for all indoor spaces, including classrooms. Depending on risk levels in the future, we may reinstate the indoor mask requirement or other restrictions for short periods, as needed.

Individual faculty and office staff may request – but not require – masking in their respective classrooms and office spaces. It is our hope that by transitioning to mask-optional, everyone will feel comfortable making their individual choice while keeping the wellbeing of our community in mind – and trusting that others are doing the same. It is important that we all respect and support the decisions made by each other in this regard.

Vaccination

Consistent with the University’s current COVID-19 vaccination policy, we will continue to require all members of the community to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and to stay up-to-date with vaccination recommendations, including booster doses. We will also continue to allow for individual exemptions on the basis of approved medical or religious reasons. We will reach out to the small number of new and visiting students enrolled at Monmouth this summer, as well as all new employees, to ensure their understanding of and compliance with this policy.

All new students and employees will be required to inform the University of their COVID-19 vaccination status on the health portal to ensure that the University can respond appropriately to any outbreak situation on campus, consistent with prevailing CDC guidelines. The University will assume that anyone who does not share their COVID-19 vaccination status is unvaccinated, and will act accordingly in the event of direct exposure necessitating a quarantine period.

Testing

In response to the low number of active cases among our campus community, the University will be closing the testing center in Magill Commons and discontinuing surveillance testing, effective May 4. We will continue to test all symptomatic individuals at the Health Center. If anyone is exhibiting symptoms, they are encouraged to seek immediate medical treatment – either directly from their physician or through Health Services. If anyone tests positive, they are required to report their test results to health@monmouth.edu.

COVID-19 Campus Dashboards

Since the University is discontinuing surveillance testing, the COVID-19 campus dashboards will be removed from our website at the conclusion of the spring semester. The Health Center will continue to maintain records of new COVID-19 cases.

Isolation/Quarantine

Members of the Monmouth University community who test positive or qualify as close contacts necessitating a quarantine period must follow the prevailing CDC and NJDOH guidelines on isolation and quarantine periods. Moving forward, the University will no longer offer separate isolation or quarantine facilities, and any impacted individuals must make alternative arrangements to satisfy their quarantine requirement.

As we move towards resuming more normalcy across our campus operations, I remain grateful to each of you for your individual efforts in keeping our campus community healthy and safe over the past two years. I recognize how difficult the uncertainty of the past two years has been, and I deeply appreciate your patience, understanding, and concern for our collective well-being. While these updated health and safety protocols are open to adjustment in the future, I hope they are received as welcome changes to our COVID-19 response on campus.

I wish you a successful conclusion to the spring semester, and a healthy and productive summer.

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

In response to the newly released CDC indoor mask guidelines and Governor Murphy’s announcement last month lifting the universal school mask mandate, I am writing with updates to our indoor masking requirement at Monmouth University. Over the past several weeks, we have engaged in a series of discussions with faculty, staff, and student leadership to solicit feedback and to inform an updated policy in the most suitable way for our university community as a whole.

Effective Monday, March 7, the indoor mask requirement will be lifted throughout all areas of campus, except in classrooms during regularly scheduled academic classes, where all attendees will continue to be required to wear properly fitting face masks.

Our vaccination rates as a community are relatively high – and our current community transmission rate is fairly low – making it possible to remove masks at all interior locations, including residence halls, dining areas, the Great Hall, the Stafford Student Center, the Guggenheim Library, the OceanFirst Bank Center, and all other buildings. We realize that this transition is welcome for some and brings discomfort for others. If you feel more comfortable still wearing a mask beyond the classroom, we ask all members of our university community to respect that choice.

We are maintaining the mask mandate in classrooms for the time being for two primary reasons.

• First, the classroom setting places some susceptible members of our community in confined spaces for prolonged periods of time. Continuing to mask in the classroom provides an added layer of protection for faculty members.
• Second, all students registered for classes this spring under the guise of masking in the classroom. Relaxing this requirement would not be fair to those students who registered under these expectations.

In addition, there may be select office areas that require visitors to mask upon entry due to vulnerability of staff members in those offices. Any such offices will be clearly designated with signage at the entrance, and will have disposable face masks available for visitors.

We will continually assess these masking standards in the days ahead to consider even further relaxation of these protocols. If you have specific questions on this masking policy or other health and safety protocols, please reach out to Spring2022@monmouth.edu. I wish you continued good health and success as we approach the second half of the spring semester, and I thank you in advance for your continued understanding and anticipated cooperation.

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

I am pleased to introduce a new public conversation series at Monmouth University on Leadership, Civility, and Common Ground in Politics and Public Service, sponsored by the Office of the President, the Department of Political Science and Sociology, and the Institute on Global Understanding.

Led by State Senator Vin Gopal (D) and former State Senator Joe Kyrillos (R), these discussions will focus on how people with different ideologies and political parties can find common ground through civil dialogue that can lead to successful outcomes in the public interest.

The first of these discussions, scheduled for Wednesday, March 2 at 11:40 a.m. to 1 p.m., will feature New Jersey State Senate President Nick Scutari (D) and Senate Minority Leader Steve Oroho (R). I invite the University community to join us in person at Pollak Theatre for this important dialogue. If you plan to attend in person, registration is required. For those who cannot attend in person, this event will also be livestreamed.

As a University, we treasure the free exchange of ideas within our community, and this dialogue series translates that philosophy into direct action. I am grateful that Monmouth University can provide a nonpartisan forum for these important discussions for our campus and regional communities. I hope you can join us as we launch this new conversation series next Wednesday.

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

As the Bridgewater College community mourns yesterday’s devastating loss of two campus law enforcement officers, I am reminded of the important work of our own Monmouth University Police Department (MUPD). Each day, our MUPD officers risk their personal safety to provide protection to all of us in the Monmouth community, and I am grateful for their selfless service to our University.

Please join me in supporting our police department personnel during this difficult moment for the campus law enforcement community. Today and every day, we salute the MUPD for their steadfast dedication to ensuring the safety and welfare of our University.

Sincerely,

Pat

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

I am pleased to announce that Monmouth University has accepted an invitation to join the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) in fall 2022. This move follows a series of thoughtful discussions with the CAA Commissioner and Presidents and has the unanimous and enthusiastic support of the Monmouth University Board of Trustees.

The CAA is comprised of some of the finest academic institutions in our region and across the nation, and Monmouth will benefit greatly from these academic associations. This move will afford Monmouth new academic collaboration opportunities as part of the Colonial Academic Alliance, and will help to enhance the great work that we do in our classrooms, labs, and learning spaces. We are thrilled to expand our association with institutions that share a demonstrated commitment both to academic integrity and to athletic excellence.

Having our teams compete in major media markets from New England to Baltimore, and from Long Island to Charleston, will also help to expand our recruiting footprint. This increased exposure at the regional and national levels speaks directly to one of the core objectives of our Strategic Plan, and will be a valuable asset as we continue to address the increasingly competitive enrollment landscape. 

Finally, our move to the CAA will afford our student athletes the opportunity to compete at a higher level against some of the strongest mid-major programs in the country. For fans, supporters, and alumni, the CAA will create new regional rivalries and excitement as we look forward to many more championship seasons ahead.

I hope this latest milestone in the evolution of our athletics program will energize the entire University community and serve as a tremendous point of pride for all of us connected to Monmouth. To that end, I invite you to join me tomorrow, Wednesday, January 26 at noon, on the first floor of the OceanFirst Bank Center for an event to formally announce our membership in the CAA. If you cannot attend, this announcement will also be livestreamed on ESPN+.

This is an exciting move for Monmouth University. Thank you all for being a part of it.

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

I hope your first days of the spring semester are off to a great start.

As follow up to my January 7 email, I am writing to advise you that classes will resume in-person instruction on Tuesday, January 25. Classes on Monday, January 24 will continue to operate under our one-week emergency remote learning status.

If you have any questions on our plans for the spring semester, please direct them to Spring2022@monmouth.edu. As a reminder, you may continue to access the most current and comprehensive campus information, including daily dashboard data, by visiting our COVID-19 website.

Thank you for your continued efforts to keep our University community healthy. I look forward to seeing you on campus next week!

Sincerely,

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:

Today we pause to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his shining example of social activism. Dr. King’s commitment to social justice and racial equality should inspire all of us at Monmouth to consider the weight of our words and the impact of our actions as we pursue a more equitable and more inclusive community.

To this end, I hope you will join the university community on Wednesday, January 26 to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy at the 2022 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Lecture in Social Justice, featuring Black feminist scholar, author, and poet, Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs.

We must continue to commit ourselves to carrying out Dr. King’s dream of building a country and a community free from bias, bigotry, racism, and hate. Thanks to ongoing efforts on our campus to foster a truly inclusive community – a community grounded in learning, service, and distinction – I am hopeful for the semester ahead.

Enjoy the holiday!

Dr. Patrick F. Leahy

President

Dear Colleagues:

I hope your first weeks of 2022 are off to a healthy start. As promised in my email on January 7, I am writing with additional details on our updated plans for the spring semester.

As students and faculty prepare to return to campus, we continue to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. Our high vaccination rates, coupled with our indoor masking, surveillance testing, and social distance requirements, have enabled our community to arrive safely at this point in the academic year. Our goal through these updated plans is to limit the spread of the virus early in the semester in order to preserve an in-person experience throughout the remainder of the academic year.

The senior leadership team and I have been following closely the rapidly changing COVID-19 situation, including frequent conversations with the Monmouth County Regional Health Commission. In consultation with our faculty, staff, and student leadership groups, we feel confident that we have developed reasonable plans, as noted in further detail below, to ensure a safe start to the spring semester and to protect the overall health of the University community.

Instruction

Remote Learning Status: For an emergency period of Tuesday, January 18 through Monday, January 24, all classes will migrate to an online format. Public health officials have indicated that the Omicron variant will likely peak sometime in mid-January, followed by a decline in positive cases and transmission rate. By shifting to emergency remote learning for this discrete period, we hope to mitigate the risk of exposure among our community. It is our intent to return to in-person instruction on Tuesday, January 25, subject to a variety of circumstances.

Vaccination

Boosters: Because of waning immunity considerations for individuals who were fully vaccinated more than five months ago with the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or more than two months ago with the J&J vaccine, the University is requiring every member of the Monmouth community (i.e., students, faculty, staff) to get the appropriate booster dose for their initial vaccination series.

To help make the vaccine and booster readily available to our community, we will be hosting our next on-campus clinic on Thursday, January 27, and the Monmouth County Health Department will be offering walk-in clinics throughout the county during the month of January.

All employees must provide up-to-date information on their vaccination status (with available booster) through the Employee Health Portal by March 1. Any unvaccinated member of our community, including those who do not receive the appropriate booster dose for their initial vaccination series by March 1, will be required to comply with the heightened health and safety protocols put into place last semester, including weekly surveillance testing.

Exemption Policy: The University will continue to allow petitions for a vaccine or booster exemption on medical or religious grounds but has decided to phase out the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) status, effective March 1. Employees who had previously been granted an EUA exemption must comply with the vaccination requirement and demonstrate either proof of vaccination or petition for an alternate exemption on medical or religious grounds.

Health and Safety Protocols

Masking: The University’s indoor masking requirement remains in place until further notice. Under this requirement, all members of the Monmouth University community and guests to our campus – regardless of vaccination status – are required to wear masks indoors, except when actively eating or drinking and when in their private office or residence hall room. Masks must be worn properly – with mouth and nose fully covered – at all other times indoors.

Social Distancing: The University will continue, when possible, to establish and enforce a social distancing requirement of three feet wherever any in-person instruction is taking place on campus (e.g., classroom, lab, teaching space, etc.). Individual faculty and staff members may also require visitors to their respective offices to adhere to the 3-foot social distance requirement.

Isolation/Quarantine: Members of the Monmouth University community who test positive or qualify as close contacts necessitating an isolation or quarantine period must follow the prevailing NJDOH guidelines on isolation and quarantine periods. More detailed information on these guidelines is forthcoming from Health Services and the Office of Human Resources.

I look forward to discussing these updates in greater detail on my open call with faculty and staff tomorrow (Friday, January 14) at 9 a.m. If you have questions regarding use of paid time off (sick/vacation/personal) or other employment benefits, please contact Robyn Salvo in the Office of Human Resources at 732-263-5228 or rsalvo@monmouth.edu. For questions related to testing and healthcare protocols, please contact health@monmouth.edu.

As has been the case since March 2020, this is a very fluid situation. We will continue to monitor public health guidance and watch for updates from the State which might affect our plans. Thank you for your ongoing cooperation, and for your continued efforts to preserve the good health of our community.

Sincerely,

Pat